England set 245 to wrap up one-day international clean sweep of the Netherlands

England

England were set 245 to wrap up a 3-0 clean sweep of the Netherlands after Eoin Morgan withdrew on the morning of the third one-day international because of an ongoing injury concern.

Morgan has made back-to-back ducks in Amstelveen and a forgettable week was capped for the England skipper as a tight groin, which he said he was managing before the series, meant he elected to sit out this fixture as a precautionary measure.

In his absence, Jos Buttler captained the tourists, who were below-par in the field after winning the toss but still bowled out their opponents for 244 in 49.2 overs, with David Willey the pick of the bowlers with four for 36.

Fellow left-arm seamer David Payne did better than his figures of 9-1-38-1 on his England debut suggest, initially deprived of his maiden international wicket when Liam Livingstone seemed to be unsettled by the sun and ducking out of a catch.

It mattered little as, while three Netherlands batters passed 50, their innings lacked impetus and they collapsed from 203 for three at the end of the 40th over as they attempted to raise the stakes.

Willey made it three from three against Vikramjit Singh, who for the second time in two innings aimed a half-hearted pull which was pouched by Dawid Malan diving forward, while the disciplined Payne should have been in the wickets after surprising Tom Cooper with a bumper.

With ample time to settle underneath a looping chance at midwicket, Livingstone appeared to be distracted by the sun and abandoned the ball, which bounced safely a few feet away from him.

Adil Rashid fumbled at third to hand Max O’Dowd a boundary as Payne’s luckless start continued although Livingstone atoned for his faux-pas with a sliding catch on the deep square-leg boundary to see off Cooper, who made an enterprising 33 off 37 balls before falling to the zippy Brydon Carse.

O’Dowd brought up a carefully-constructed half-century off 68 deliveries but perished off the next ball after feathering to Buttler off the leg-spin of Livingstone, who alongside Rashid kept the Dutch batters becalmed in a forgettable passage in the middle overs where boundaries were at a premium.

Indeed between the start of the 21st over and the end of the 39th, there were just two fours, as Bas De Leede and Scott Edwards settled for watchful accumulation to take the Netherlands near to 200.

De Leede passed 50 but injudiciously hooked Carse for 56 off 78 balls as he looked to up the ante.

While Edwards was unable to pierce the gaps, he was quick between the wickets, bringing up his third half-century of the series off 54 balls – by far the quickest of the three Dutch batters who had reached 50.

Wickets were tumbling at the other end, though, as Teja Nidamanuru, Logan Van Beek, Tim Pringle and Aryan Dutt departed in short order before Payne belatedly got in the wickets column when Edwards clothed to mid-on for 64 off 72 balls.

Willey ended proceedings with four deliveries unused by clean bowling Paul van Meekeren.

Jason Roy

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